Established and outsider relations among students involved in a health promotion intervention in a Danish high school.
Stine Frydendal Nielsen1, Laila Ottesen2, Lone Friis Thing2,
1Rysensteen Gymnasium, 2University of Copenhagen
The paper considers a study in a Danish high school in which students were involved as “health ambassadors” in order to enhance physical activity in their own school. The study is based on results from international research, which points out that adolescence are not as physically active as recommended, (WHO 2004; Strong et al 2005). Moreover, international studies show that maintaining health promotion interventions is difficult (Laitakari et al 1996). Therefore, in contemporary health promotion research, there is an increasing demand for enhancing active participation by the community (Haug, Torsheim, and Samdal, 2009). The study is based on the interpretative and process-oriented methodology developed by Baur and Ernst (2011). They base this approach on Elias’ argument on involvement and detachment (Elias 1956) and the importance of theoretical pointers to insure that the researcher doesn’t loose herself in the research field. Elias unfolds this methodological approach in “The Established and the Outsiders” (Elias and Scotson, 1994). The study shows that some of the “health ambassador”-students found this role and their identity as “sports-students” difficult. They felt that this identity sometimes compromised their social life in the school, which relates to aspects that doesn’t always correspond with the current health norms (Thing and Ottesen, 2013). Based on “The Established and the Outsiders”, the paper discusses the role of these students in a health promotion intervention. It explores the relations between the “health ambassador”-students and the other students in the school, and what consequences this may have for health and physical activity.